Chang County.
Man Mo Temple.
As the annual Qingming Temple Fair approaches, the atmosphere near Man Mo Temple begins to become lively.
Lanterns.
Dragon lantern.
Phoenix lantern.
The bright red damask represents the festive atmosphere.
The shops around Man Mo Temple have all hung calligraphy and paintings early. These calligraphy and paintings are all congratulations on cultural relics, and the store owner has already happily welcomed a foreign tourist who came to visit the vicinity of Man Mo Temple.
Although there is still half a month before the Qingming Temple Fair.
However, the foreign tourists, young ladies, scholars, businessmen’s families, and the families of famous aristocrats who came early in advance have all appeared near the Cultural Relics Temple to pay their respects to the Wen Mo Temple in advance and feel the fiery atmosphere.
Moreover, there were few entertainment items in ancient times. If you stay in an inn all day, you will eventually become exhausted, so you all take to the streets to experience the customs of other places, and you will be dazzled by the sights.
The origin of Wen Mo Temple in Chang County.
According to county records, it is because Chang County is close to the Yinyi River with developed waterways. Boats come and go on the Yinyi River every day, with sails like weaving and it is bustling.
This gives the people of Chang County an opportunity to communicate with the outside world at high speed.
If people from the surrounding counties take part in the imperial examination or martial arts examination, in order to save travel time and money, they will basically choose to take the waterway of Chang County, so slowly, Chang County built this Wenwu Temple.
Previous imperial examinations and martial arts examinations have brought a lot of incense and prosperity to Chang County.
This Man Mo Temple is also strange.
Do not worship the two saints, civil and military.
Instead, a thousand-year-old sacred tree "Qingqian Liu" was enshrined.
People write their wishes and names on bamboo plaques tied with red silk ropes, and then throw them on the sacred tree. The higher they are thrown, the higher they are hung, which means "the lucky stars are shining high, the phoenix is perched on the sycamore tree, and the luck is great." Prosperous”.
What's more, since the Qingqian Willow magically transformed overnight ten years ago, and its bronze fruit turned into a brilliant golden copper coin fruit, the sacred tree, in addition to praying for civil and military blessings, also has an additional tree that can "attract the God of Wealth to the door and attract wealth." rumor. As a result, even those merchants, rich businessmen, and people from poor families began to come in droves to take part in the excitement.
In this way, the Qingming Temple Fair reached its peak in ten years.
Because the sacred tree is so precious and might be damaged by others, the Man Mo Temple is usually not open to the public, leaving only a few people responsible for daily cleaning.
Man Mo Temple will only be open on the day of the Qingming Temple Fair.
In such a strict situation, even the government officials sent by the local government in Chang County to patrol and maintain order due to the approaching temple fair could not enter the Wenwu Temple.
No one knows what is going on in Man Mo Temple.
All of this started ten years ago after the thousand-year-old green money willow sacred tree underwent a magical change overnight. It is said to prevent some unscrupulous people from destroying the sacred tree once there are more people.
The simpler the personnel in the temple are, the less mistakes will be made.
It has only been a few years since Magistrate Zhang took office. Ten years ago, Magistrate Zhang was not the magistrate of Chang County. I don’t know why the previous magistrate agreed to this matter. Ten years have passed and things have changed. No reason can be given. In short, this strange rule was passed down without a trace, year after year, for ten years.
Man Mo Temple will not be open to the public until the day of the Qingming Temple Fair.
Even if the arrester comes and County Magistrate Zhang comes, he can't get in.
In order not to disgrace the previous magistrate, County Magistrate Zhang allowed this rule to be passed down.
Therefore, the government officials who could not enter the temple were all protected in private houses in the four directions closest to the Man Mo Temple.
It was sunny and daytime at this time.
Around the Man Mo Temple, white servants with the sun above their heads patrolled by from time to time.
Laoyoutiao's squad leader and government servants were lazily hiding in private houses, enjoying Mingqian tea, and were called to be responsible for spying in the dark.
suddenly.
A group of people wearing government official uniforms appeared outside a private house as soon as they entered the compound.
The leader was a muscular man with a beard riding a maroon horse. His temperament was obviously different from those of ordinary government servants.
Afterwards, a government servant hurriedly ran into the compound and approached a shift leader.
After the yamen officer whispered a few words, the squad leader nodded knowing that he already knew, and then came outside a room.
"Report to Capt. Zheng that Capt. Zhao has arrived and wants to take turns handing over duties with Capt. Zhao."
As long as we are human, we will be tired, and mental sleepiness will easily lead to paralysis. Therefore, in the protection work of Wen Mo Temple, several major arrests take turns with each other every few days.
Today, it happened to be the turn of Zhao Yangping, one of the three chief catchers in Chang County, to take charge of the shift.
"Captain Zheng?"
"Captain Zheng?"
…
However, the class leader kept shouting softly several times, but there was still no movement in the room.
The squad leader seemed to have become accustomed to it and didn't notice anything unusual. Seeing that he didn't get a response from Captain Zheng after shouting several times, he returned the same way.
The squad leader returned to the lobby and reported to a person sitting drinking tea: "Go back to Capt. Zhao. I just went to inform Capt. Zheng that Capt. Zhao is here. Capt. Zheng is here." Retreat, no response yet. Please Zhao Captou sit down for a while longer. Generally speaking, Zheng Captou retreats for a long time. He usually stays in seclusion until nightfall and then comes out to eat a few mouthfuls of food, and then continues to practice in retreat."
This Capt. Zhao is the muscular man with beard who rode the maroon horse earlier.
"Oh? Is Mr. Zheng always like this in the past few days?"
"Yes, Capt. Zhao." The squad leader nodded and bowed politely.
"It doesn't matter, just wait a little longer. You can report the defense situation to me in advance."
…
Sunset and moonrise.
Time flies.
Falling into Changxian County under the sinking night, a burly man fell to the ground silently, walking alone and silently on the streets after the curfew without making any footsteps.
After walking for some distance, I bumped into several Xiang Yong who were on night watch.
As soon as the local heroes saw each other's facial features clearly, they all put down their weapons and saluted respectfully: "Zheng Captou!"
When these local warriors watched Zheng Cat head go away and felt that they could not hear their own voices, they started discussing in private.
"Isn't Mr. Zheng over there at the Man Mo Temple? Why is he walking alone on the street?"
"You forgot, today is the day of changing the defense at Wen Mo Temple. In the next few days, Capt. Zhao will be responsible for guarding Wen Mo Temple."
"Hey, have you seen Mr. Zheng's face..."
"Don't talk about this matter behind your back. Be careful with Mr. Zheng. He will give us little shoes to wear in the future. The matter of the three major chiefs is not something you and I can discuss."
"Yes, yes, let's not discuss this matter. Have you noticed that Mr. Zheng seems to have no sound when he walks?"
"What's the point? Chief Zheng is one of the top three catchers in our Chang County. He must have made a breakthrough in cultivation recently and his strength has improved greatly. Okay, let's go, let's go on patrol at night. How did I find out? It’s a bit chilly tonight…”
